Hospital lands on-course gamble

Hospital battled past Roisin Dubh and Mark Walsh drove him through to get up by a neck in Limerick’s two and a quarter mile handicap hurdle.

There was a touch landed in the betting ring as the gelding, trained by Eric McNamara and owned by JP McManus, was backed at rates down from 7/1 to 9/2 on the off.

Roisin Dubh looked set to serve up a 20/1 shock for Philip Byrne and Denis Hogan, but the mare was pipped as the post loomed. There were 18 runners in this handicap and each way players got a dividend from 20/1 shots Fethard Player and He’s Our Man who occupied third and fourth respectively.

The 4/1 favourite Rightville Boy finished in sixth while Mighty Whitey weakened out of contention into 14th after cutting out the running with Davy Russell in the saddle.

“Mark gave him a great ride. He sat and suffered, but he eventually got a run up the inner. I felt last week that he blew up a bit and I was hoping it would put him right,” handler Eric McNamara said.

“He’s very ground dependant and he can’t handle heavy. He’ll mix it over hurdles and fences over the summer.”

Hospital has been mixing hurdling and chasing since October last year. He came into today’s race with a mark of 108 over hurdle and 115 over fences. This was his second hurdle victory and he has one success to his name over the bigger obstacles.

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes